


Then Drink

by sunshinekat



Category: Vampyr (Video Game)
Genre: Blood Drinking, M/M, Master/Pet slightly, liberties taken with skals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-09-02 18:13:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16792144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinekat/pseuds/sunshinekat
Summary: Progeny was complicated, as Dr. Reid discovered, that where he held a routine with one, the other did not seem to need him. [slash]





	1. Chapter 1

a/n first vampyr fic, i took liberties with skals and how they work. cannibalism only works for me to a certain extent. having reid keep track of his progeny's appetites by personalized mama bird tactics? that's a little better. 

Sean Hampton had always been a light sleeper. His circumstances never provided him with an environment friendly to true, deep sleep. When he slept, he did so above the covers. And while asleep he had nightmares, now, they started after his fifteenth birthday. He understand that they are linked to trauma, but ultimately he believes that through prayer he will find release from that pain and God will give him peace. 

He misses that...misses that nightmares had been his most difficult obstacle. That the time he’d dedicated to thinking about it, to honestly wishing for them to stop had actually been so incredibly important to him. 

All he has now, are teeth marks in his arm, graveyard soil under his finger nails and a craving for human blood. 

He doesn’t suffer from nightmares anymore, he suffers the hunger. That blackened need for something unholy. He tries to rationalize it, to see how God would have wanted this to happen to him. But his traitorous heart keeps bringing back the words of Dr. Reid, and when added to the other horrible events of his life, becoming a creature of the night seems like the epitome of punishment. Cursed to live in darkness for the rest of eternity. 

Jonathan was learning slowly, to focus his senses to address the needs of his progeny. It was easy enough to deal with McCullum, occasionally he would stop by the hospital and appear at his window seeking entry. Jonathan would leave his notes and offer him his wrist, the hunter would feed and without a word he would disappear into the dark. 

Sean Hampton however, was still proving difficult. He’d caught him at the last moment a few weeks ago when he’d locked himself away with the hunger. Reid dreads to think about how that might have turned out if Ashbury hadn’t mentioned it. 

It hadn’t been easy like McCullum either. Their feeding sessions were brief, sure Geoffrey’s bite left Reid exhausted, and ravenous. The sinking of his fangs felt a little like a kitten’s bite, and his drink had no finesse, Jonathan had the sense that they both regarded it as an unpleasant but required event for mutual survival. 

Jonathan still kept himself fed by rats, and was slowly learning from lady Ashbury about feeding from the dying, she’d slowed down on that since Edgar's betrayal. Especially with Ackroyd helping Pembroke and handling the last of the plague bearers. 

He was still highly uncomfortable with feeding from a live human, no matter how close to death they were. 

He recognized that rejection in Sean Hampton. Even as he’d clung in desperation, his lips soft and moist against Reid’s wrist, his teeth embedded, his tongue sliding over his skin, suckling. His heavy breaths, gold eyes unfocused and lost for those few instances in which he was nothing but the monster. 

Reid had tried to look unfazed. But there was nothing cold or clinical about Sean’s bite. He’d been a good man before, he’d been pious and kind, vulnerable like other men were not. His sense of empathy always ruling his decisions which ultimately brought him to that moment in time. And as he bit down and drank, Reid resisted the urge to slide his fingers along his soft, auburn hair. Slide his fingers under his jaw, feel the movements of his throat as he swallowed. 

Reid had never recognized pleasure in his blood being taken. When he thought of the desperate hunger that Aloysious Dawson had shown he felt disgust. But he had to acknowledge that there may be a part of the act that can be construed as pleasurable. 

Sean Hampton’s earnest despair, the frantic, almost giddy craving caught Reid by surprise. He felt a desire to sate that hunger, to give Sean what he needed. To wipe away at least some of the suffering he’d experienced. 

Reid sits by his window now, sensing McCullum’s hunger all the way in White chapel. He wipes his wrists down with alcohol, and sometimes he ingests some of Edgar’s brandy to give his progeny a pick-me-up. Geoffrey always gives him an annoyed look when he tastes it, Reid finds it endlessly amusing. 

But he will try for weeks to sense Sean’s hunger. And there will be nothing. 

Reid stops by Lady Ashbury’s to get her insight on that. 

“Perhaps he doesn’t like you?” She smiles, “Or, it could be because he is not like you. McCullum I can understand, when I was a young Ekon I could sense my master’s presence...” she smiled bitterly. “Your Skal may be harder to sense than another Ekon.” she says as a way of explanation.

Reid sighs, glancing into the low flames in the fireplace. He leans back in his chair, long legs crossed at the ankle, “McCullum feeds quickly, and regularly, it’s almost routine now.” 

Ashbury glances at him from behind her canvas, possibly trying to catch him in the firelight. 

“He is an Ekon, vampire senses are keen as you might have noticed. He probably can sense you too.” 

The thought of McCullum sensing him from one of his hunts is disconcerting, but it’s not urgent. Not as disturbing as the reason he’s here. Reid lets out a sigh, “It’s been weeks now, Mr. Hampton has not sought me out.” 

“You seem bothered by that Jonathan.” 

“Shouldn’t I be? McCullum can sense me from two towns away, but it seems I am not wanted-”

“He is a Skal, Jonathan. Please, remember that. Skal’s are hated, deformities, they are poor reflections of their makers. You cannot sense him because he is not like you. Have you thought to ask about any letters sent to you from the docks?” 

Jonathan frowns, “I work in a hospital, if he’s not feeling well can’t he just visit?” 

“I’ve been in the throes of a great, unsatisfied hunger Jonathan. Hospitals are not the right environment.” 

Jonathan looks at Ashbury, “You were not there, he drank from me, but he did not want the blood, he was...I disgust him I’m afraid.” 

“Did blood not horrify you as well Jonathan? Drinking from the living, from the dying, from rats in alleyways. Is vampire not the most disgraceful thing a human can become?” 

Jonathan hated that she was right, as usual. He knew what he had to do, but he did not want to visit Sean Hampton again, did not want to deal with the unfriendly stares from his two assistants or deal with Ichabod Throgmorton again. That blithering idiot. 

If only things were as easy with Sean as they were with McCullum. 

The docks were not a welcoming place. Even with the plague in remission, there were still cut purses and gangs roaming the streets. 

The situation in London was going back to normal, but going back to normal meant that all the old problems would come back twice as bad. 

He found the shelter in better condition than he’d last seen it. They were constructing what looked like storage containers, presumably for firewood, food and blankets. The coming winter was not going to be easy. 

Ichabod greeted him near the entrance, “Ah, Dr. Reid!” he says with a grin, “How nice of you to visit, may I ask if you’ve come at Sean’s request? We could use a doctor’s expertise.” 

Reid felt instinctual worry at those words, but when Ichabod handed him a chart and saw a neatly arranged list of names and reported impairments he was relieved that the symptoms or the Skal plague was not among them. 

He hadn’t meant to be distracted from his original purpose, but he spent mos of the night treating the ill in the shelter. Fifteen names were checked off a list of seventeen, the other two having given up and gone to Pembroke earlier in the evening. 

When he went to turn in the list he found Ichabod fast asleep at his desk, a stack of papers at his left, and a lit candle by his hand. 

Reid saw the thrum of his pulse through his skin, delicious red blood traveling through his main artery. He blew out the candle and saw no more. 

As he stood alone in the darkness he heard a sound, it was disturbingly familiar. He followed it to the doors of Sean’s personal offices and bedchamber. He entered as the door was unlocked and saw Sean crouched on the floor, fangs buried in the soft, warm flesh of a rat. He growled as he gorged on the small creature. 

Reid recognized that need, and how unsatisfying rat blood was to the hunger itself. But he knew more than anyone, that it would still sate the hunger. 

It didn’t stop the irrational outrage he felt at the sight. 

“If you needed blood you could have asked, Sean.” 

Sean paused, letting go of the rat, it’s small corpse falling with a dull thump onto the ground. He stands and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, he turns and the traces of a flush fading from his cheeks. He gives Jonathan a small smile, “I would never want to bother you Dr. Reid. You must save your energy for your patients.” 

Jonathan frowns, “It’s no bother Sean, you are not my only progeny, I feed McCullum as well, my blood can strengthen you. I know that running a shelter must be exhausting, even for us.” 

Sean’s eyes, yellow now, so different from the soft blue they’d been when he was human. They flicker from Reid to floor. 

“It’s not actually, I’m quite fine with the blood of rats, even if the taste is not the same.” 

Jonathan found himself annoyed at being compared with a rat. And he couldn’t understand why Sean wouldn’t just...drink. 

“I have been performing some experiments, McCullum has had my blood laced with brandy, he says it has a different, darker flavor. We could try that...perhaps with your communion wine?”

Sean smiles, but it’s thin, ah, he’s offended him. 

“That would be an affront to the ceremony of communion, Dr. Reid.” he pinches the bridge of his nose, “Please do not bring that up again.” 

“I’m sorry Sean, I...” he doesn’t know how to ask, he’s rubbing his thumb over his pulse, somehow craving the feeling of Sean’s fangs in his skin. It was like an itch he couldn’t scratch. 

“Why did you come here Dr. Reid?” Sean asks, short on patience it seemed, “I thank you for coming and looking after the resident’s illnesses, and you are always welcome, but if your business it done I do not see you have any other reason to stay.” 

“My apologies, Sean. I didn’t mean to offend you before. I have been trying to ensure my progeny do not harm humans, part of that is keeping their hunger under control. I can sense McCullum’s hunger, I know when he needs to feed and he will come to me when he needs it.” Sean is no longer watching him, he’s walking to his altar and lighting the candles, and it reminds him of that night he found him, sitting calmly before a plate filled with human flesh. 

“You don’t, Sean.” 

Sean sighs, stops to fold his hands and say a brief prayer. 

“Sean...”

“Dr. Reid, I know that...that before if you hadn’t been here I might have hurt someone. But since then I have been working to avoid that, feeding on rats works for you does it not? It is working just fine for me.” 

Jonathan opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, he was so frustrated, Sean had a rebuttal for everything he had to say. “You don’t have to…I am happy to give you blood if you need it.” 

Sean shakes his head, “That would not be prudent.” he says softly, concern weighing his brow, “How often do you feed the hunter?” 

“twice, perhaps three times in a week?” Jonathan says, “The sessions are brief, no more than five minutes, it’s enough for me to gauge any issues with his health, but he is not dealing with the sick and disenfranchised. I worry that you may be subject to illnesses as you are not a vampire, my blood can protect you.” 

Sean opens and closes his mouth, “Dr. Reid, I thank you for your offer, but as I said it is not prudent for you to offer your blood according to my needs.” 

“But Sean-” 

“Doctor Reid!” Sean snaps, the force in his voice is shocking, Jonathan is instantly on guard, “I’ve been kind, but you have overstayed your welcome.”

Jonathan walks toward Sean who steps away keeping the distance between them. 

Jonathan can’t for the life of him imagine what caused that outburst, but he sees that flicker of gold in Sean’s eyes and he knows why he can’t look at him. Sean’s eyes don’t see Jonathan’s face, they see a shadow lined with ruby red veins, a mere specter holding inside it the life blood he needed for relief. 

“Is it different for you?” Jonathan asks, he closes in on Sean and grabs his wrist, the Skal hisses at him as he’s backed against the bookcase. 

Sean’s panting, his fangs extending just enough to peer past his soft lips. “Is your hunger so great Sean? That you cannot ask for help?” 

Sean lets out a ragged moan, “Doctor...” he whispers, “Please, do not...” 

Jonathan isn’t sure what makes him do it, but he moves a clawed hand to his neck, slowly unbuttoning his collar revealing the column of his throat. He sees Sean’s body stiffen and twitch under him, his hands come up to Jonathan’s lapels, sharp nails cutting through the cloth. 

Jonathan presses one sharp claw to the line between his neck and shoulder and cuts a tiny line into his flesh. Sean’s hand grabs onto the back of his head and yanks his head back, he drags Jonathan down to his height and he gives in with a soft, wanton moan. His fangs tearing into the soft, pale flesh of Reid’s throat. 

Reid is hunched there for what feels like millennia, feeling the draw of blood from his body. There is a dark pleasure in it that he’s never experienced. The height difference makes it hard to focus, he leans down and scoops up Sean by the back of his legs and when he lifts him and the priest wraps those legs around his hips. This fixes the ache in his knees, but it reveals something else, his hands are solid under Sean’s buttocks, fingers twitching and it’s getting more difficult to resist squeezing and kneading that soft, pliable flesh. He’s rocking his hips against Sean’s, hypnotized by the combination of agony and the delectable sensation of Sean’s hardness pressing against his through his trousers.

Sean is drinking deep and hard, his hips rocking slowly against Jonathan’s, it’s that delicious friction that shocks Sean out of his reverie, as he parts from the flesh, his mouth red with Jonathan’s blood. He leans back, hands looped around John’s neck as they move together. 

He’s close, so close, his mouth is saying things he’d never say out loud, but drunk on fresh, warm vampire blood he’s lost. Jonathan finds he wants more of that. He moves urgently wanting to bring them both over, nothing matters more than that. Nothing from his conversations with Ashbury could have prepared him for this. Seconds later he’s pressing urgently against Sean feeling that familiar full body shiver as his cock pulses and his cum stains the inside of his trousers. Sean follows suit, whole body twitching, ragged moans leaving his open mouth, his fingers buried in Jonathan’s hair. 

They stand, leaning against the bookcase, panting, exhausted, sated in more ways than one. 

Sean slowly loosens his grip, he’s holding onto Jonathan’s shoulders, “Mind putting me down..Dr. Reid?” There’s that tell tale flush in his cheeks again. 

Jonathan does so but slowly, unsure if he wants to. he’s watching Sean, observing the red splotches staining the corners of his mouth, not rat blood this time. 

Johnanthan knows he needs to step away now, but he doesn’t want to. He wants to find a bed, strip off all those dark, formless clothes that Sean wears and expose him to the night. 

He knows he can’t do that now, not with Sean so unprepared. 

“May I?” Jonathan asks. 

Sean is staring up at him, “I...” he reaches up and starts to brush as his neck, fingers worrying at whatever invisible dirt was on his skin. Jonathan leans in, relishes the soft, startled gasp that leaves his throat. 

He sinks his fangs in, and instantly, he understands why most vampires despise Skals. For how could something so imperfect, so poorly made, taste so sinfully delicious?

He drinks briefly, his control over his hunger allowing him the discipline to ensure he didn't drink back everything Sean did to him and the rat from before. 

He draws back from the bite, seeing Sean dazed like he’d been mesmerized. 

“Tell me...” he says, “When the hunger comes, tell me and I will feed you.” and maybe more, if Sean will allow it. 

Jonathan Reid leaves the shelter, one hunger sated, another just reaching it’s peak.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the kudos and comments on the previous entry :3 I thought I'd add a few more, see where this qt pairing takes me. 

Sean Hampton was trying to come to terms with the fact that he’d broken his vow of celibacy. It was not genuine of course, in the eyes of the church. But he had never worried about their approval. His vows were only to God and God loved all his creatures. 

Would he love Sean now that he’d fallen this low? 

He can still feel Jonathan’s hair in his fingers, the wet slide of his tongue on his skin. And the hunger, cutting through his sanity, Jon’s hands like fire on his skin. The flavor of his blood was like bourbon burning down his throat only to settle deliciously in his stomach. His mouth molten with the aftertaste. 

Even now, days after it happened, it was all he could think about. Sean tries to keep himself busy. Tries to focus on his parish, on keeping up supplies for the soup kitchen as Winter approached settling over London like a worn cloak. 

Giselle and Lottie had taken it upon themselves to drag poor Ichabod into the handling of the shelter. It had been difficult for them to get used to the lack of Sean’s presence but they weren’t like any women Sean had met, the literal opposite of delicate. Lottie was sweet and had a spine of steel and was often seen directing Ichabod over any task involving heavy lifting or, or looking over inventory. He couldn't help but feel pride that they had stayed with him, they had become an essential part of the refuge.

It used to be, that Sean could spend hours in contemplation. But his mind was the opposite of quiet these days. His hearing could capture sounds he’d never noticed before, not when he was human, and not when he became a Skal. The smells in his quarters were ten-twenty times more pronounced. The Paxton sisters argued a lot more than he’d expected. The only thing he could attribute this change was to Jon’s blood. Only he could have provoked such a thing. 

He was a demon in human form, had to be. He wore his human disguise well but there was a darkness in Dr. Reid. Just like there was a darkness in himself. 

Sean decided he would stay away from Dr. Reid, he would continue to drink from the wild animals available to him and try to bring himself back into the lord’s light. 

The nights on the docks were beautiful and quiet. The full moon hung above it lined with fog, silver light soft, floating along the slow sway of the Thames.

Sean hunted for a few hours every night, senses scanning for signs of rats scurrying through every nook and cranny. 

He followed one down to the bay, wooden stairs creaking under his shoes. He heard it scuttling across the mud and rocks. Sean stalked after it slowly gaining speed, claws sharp and gleaming, his fangs ready to tear and rip into that tiny body. 

He sees it rush under the boardwalk into the dark, it's heart and veins glowing softly like a beacon. 

He is close now, he swipes his claws but misses, is skitters into a fissure in the wall, gone. Unlike his hunger, it claws low in his belly, feels like a sickness. 

Being this way, knowing what he does about this world made him realize how many like himself he’d met over time. He’d seen so many Skals during the change and all he had done for them was trying to get them to eat, keep them safe for the night. They would leave sometime in the dark, and he wondered now why they let him live. 

When eternity stretches out before you unending, what does one more life matter? 

He wants his existence to be for God, inside his heart no longer beats, but he feels anxious, he feels guilty. He made those vows a long time ago, he made them to keep himself from the dark places in his mind, they were the walls that kept out the pain of his past. 

Jonathan Reid had done nothing but tear them down since they met, and his words, his callous mention of Sean’s youth had shook the foundation of his life here. 

He had not had a calm moment since that night, he was desperate with hunger, he allowed for Reid to pin him down, to feed him like an animal and let him rut against him like a whore. 

He was enslaved and he refused to face it, he would never drink from Reid again. 

When he thinks about Dr. Reid, he can remember the dark flavour of his blood, he can remember the feel of his skin, how it felt to tug down the lapel of his coat, and the line of his cock pressed against his leg. The fire that rose in him when those fangs pierced his neck. 

It frustrated him that none of those things brought back memories. 

William’s bite had been painful and desperate and the instances between losing consciousness and seeing a shadow come out from behind the flames were his final human recollections. 

The heat coiling in his belly at the push of Reid’s hips against his, and the grip of his hands under his thighs as he pinned him against the wall did not remind him of the broken trust he held. How painfully vulnerable he’d felt, how confused when they started to ask him about his guardian, about the things that they’d done together. How they had looked at him like he was a plague victim. 

Being with Dr. Reid, even after being fed his blood, had never made him think about those times.   
This pain was his own, and would be shared with no other man. His vows were sacred to him and his loyalty was to God. Prayer was going to get him through the night. And though he could feel the hunger roaring through him he stopped searching for the rat and started to head back home. 

He was dazed for a moment, before he noticed he was following someone, he knew that flash of white blonde hair, shoulder thin and body lanky and dirty. He thinks about stopping, his hand touches the wall next to him, but his body continues to move. He can see the blood now, glowing so sweetly like an apple from the tree, so tempting, so delicious. 

Something grabs his shoulder and he is being pulled back. He turns and he sees what looks like an effigy of Dr. Reid holding him, but his figure is liquid, it was like looking at a fish from above the surface, almost formless and there’s a pounding in his ears. He stiffens in shock, “Dr. Reid?” 

Jonathan tries to talk, but his voice sounds like it’s coming from under water, and he cannot understand it. The thirst burns terribly in his chest, “Dr. Reid I...I need help.” he gasps, suddenly glaringly aware of what almost happened. He’d almost taken a life. He’d almost killed an innocent for this hunger! 

He thinks of his vows, of his past, how eternity now stretched further and further in front of him holding a future that he had never expected to have. 

It’s terrifying. 

There had only been a single comfort for him since these changes had begun, since he could no longer take solace in taking care of the sick and lost. He thinks of Dr. Reid, he was very much of a sound mind, and was the only one who could understand what was happening. 

He sinks to the ground looking at Jon’s form flickering above him, the world the color of blood. He can feel the hunger raking at his insides, tearing at him. He felt half-mad with it, and he can barely speak. 

“He-help me-!”


	3. Chapter 3

A.n thanks for the comments and kudos! Not sure if I should continue this or end it here...

Jonathan let him rest. Couldn’t think about why he’d been out in the street, given his aversion to the outside world. He could blame himself- he did blame himself for that. Giving his blood only fixed half the problem, and as an overall solution it was poor. Saddling Sean Hampton with many other difficult problems. 

Perhaps as a Skal he’d never been able to see this clearly at night, or been a slave to his sense of smell following the smells that pierced his appetites, new and old. 

He’d been a mess when Jon took him inside, he at least kept to himself when they’d arrived at the Turquoise Turtle. Tom and Sabrina were friendly when seeing them, they saw no issue with letting Jon spend the night there with Sean. They saw nothing out of order, and it was a mystery to Jon how they couldn’t see it, sense it pricking at them like needles. Sean’s body was cold, damp, his posture and limbs were stiff and his breaths stuttered awkwardly as if he’d forgotten the rhythm of human breath. 

Once they were alone, Jon locked the door behind him and sat Sean on the bed. He could tell he was starving, but something else was wrong, he couldn’t put his finger on it. “Sean, you haven’t eaten have you?” 

Sean’s pale blue eyes gaze up at him, “I was...hunting I think.” he says, voice dry and low, “But...I followed him...oh, Jon I followed him and I wanted to-” 

Jon kneels down before Sean, taking his hands in his own, “You didn’t hurt anybody, Sean, listen to me you have to feed before it gets worse.” 

Sean’s eyes were frantic as he gazed down at him, “It won’t stop, this horrible feeling, this madness it won’t stop!” 

Jon clutched Sean’s hands, “Listen to me Sean, drink and I will tell you what to do.” Jon wishes he could tell him it will go away, the gnawing hunger, the madness always creeping, the urges, the horror and blood- It would never stop, he would learn to control it, like Jonathan, like Elizabeth, like Geoffrey. He wouldn’t let him become a slave to it like those things that lived in the shadows of this city. 

Jonathan raises his wrist to his mouth and bites down with his fangs, the blood pools in two bright red dots at first, and the scent fills the air between them. Sean’s pupils dilate so far the blue is barely a ring around them, he doesn’t ask, doesn’t hesitate, the old despair is there but he’s gone so long without it’s like he’s barely Sean anymore. 

Jon knows what this feeling is like, and he wants to comfort his friend, wants to be there for him. But his hold is savage, his mouth is hot, tongue lashing at the holes in his skin, fangs digging in making a new pair as he drinks heavily. 

Sean is vulnerable here, body hunched over, bent almost in half to get to him. Jon wants to focus on making him better, soothing the hunger to get back to the man he knew, there was goodness in him and Jon wouldn’t let that be erased. Sean’s hold was making it hard to focus, he could feel his blood thrumming through his veins, his cold body slipping closer to the source of that thrum, it was the sound of Sean’s eager breaths, the movements of his warm lips, the smell of the sea in his hair. Jon moves closer still, laying one hand on Sean’s shoulder, it slides further in, toward the collar of his coat, it would be so easy to slip it aside and bare that patch of flesh, easier still to slip his own fangs inside and begin to feast.  
It wasn’t hard to rationalize, after all they’d done it before. And Sean’s blood was just so sweet, so delectable. His, and his alone. 

Jon’s not thinking about Sean’s condition anymore, his loosening hold, his slowly calming breaths, how his draw slowed just a little, and he’s inches away from his neck when Sean pulls away, lips ruby red and he turns and looks at Jon. 

The scent of his own blood should repel him, but it coated Sean’s mouth like a rouge, he inches forward and licks a drop from the corner of Sean’s lips. 

Sean edges back, “Dr. Reid...I...” Jon moves away as well, gathering himself. “Sean, you...I...- How are you feeling?” 

Sean moves down the bed a few feet, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Much better now, thank you.” he says, he’s not looking at Jon anymore, “Dr. Reid...I...” 

“I don’t think you should...try to-” Jonathan sighs deeply and stands brushing off the knees of his pants and rolling his sleeve down. He sits on the edge of the bed, “Going without blood for only a few days is unbearable, but you...you have gone weeks without it.” 

Sean frowns, “Yes...I...I thought I could handle it.” 

“This is the third time...” 

“Dr. Reid, rest assured I have learned my lesson-”

“Not this time, Sean.” Jonathan says, in a tone he saves for his more stubborn patients. “You could have hurt someone, not just a stranger but someone you care about. I have told you multiple times to call me if you need blood.”

“You must understand, Dr. Reid I-” 

“No, you have to understand something Sean, if I had not been at the docks tonight, what would you have done?” Jon looks at him, Sean can’t meet his eye. 

“If I could go back and save you before you were bitten the first time I would. Being what I am is not something I would want on any other soul much less...much less someone like you.” 

Sean glances at him, his eyes wide, hurt, “Like me?” 

Jon frowns, “You are a good person, Sean. That goodness is...this life will...I will do what I can to keep you from changing into me.” 

“But Dr. Reid I-” 

“No-”

Sean grabs Jon’s arm, “I am not good, Dr. Reid. I am weak, and tired, and broken.” his voice pleading, his touch cool, and urgent, “Eternity is not something I have ever- I thought when I was a skal that I was blessed and would be able to help the living and feast on the dead. But your blood - having it cleared my mind of those ideas and I see it now for the madness it was. I have tried to be good, Jonathan, but I always fail.” 

Jonathan frowns, “Fail?” 

“It is...it is why I cannot ask for you to come to my aid.” 

Jonathan shifted closer, seeing Sean crossing his arms over his chest, his expression reminded him of their confrontation all those months ago, when he’d brought up those awful things that happened to him, forced him to kneel and drink to save his-was it to save his life? Could Jon really say he’d saved anything that night? 

“You know my past, you know I am...sinful.” 

“Sean, that’s not true. You were a child, you should have been protected-” 

“Dr. Reid please!” Sean snaps, “Just listen.” 

Jon settles, but he can’t help the spark of protective rage he feels at Sean’s words. How could he think such things?

“I was abandoned as a child, so my mother must have...she must have known. I corrupt those closest to me...which my...my guardian was victim to. Only here, only in London is my ill-begotten soul unable to corrupt-” 

Jonathan couldn’t stand to hear anymore, he grabbed Sean’s arm and clutched him to his chest, Sean’s back was stiff, his posture frozen, resisting Jon’s embrace. 

Jonathan had one hand on Sean’s head, he held him close, wishing that he’d give in. “Sean Hampton, you are a good man.” he says it, again and lowers his head to say into Sean’s ear. 

Sean’s hands push against his chest, “Dr. Reid stop-” 

Jonathan hesitates, but he doesn’t listen, his lips touch the edges of Sean’s ears, “You are good.” he says again, pressing a gentle kiss against his ear, and he leans back slowly, unwilling to put further space between them. 

“You are good.” he says gazing into Sean’s eyes, “Sean Hampton-” 

Sean presses forward suddenly lips pressed insistently against Jon’s, it’s unexpected and yet just what Jon wanted. He answers Sean’s kiss with his own, slipping his tongue against his lips, seeking entry. Sean lets him, and he’s lost in the taste of his own blood, Sean’s hands clutching onto his coat lapels, a lost little moan leaving his lips. 

Sean pulls back after a moment, breathless, hands pressed against Jon’s chest, “Wait...we...this isn’t...” 

Jonathan doesn’t know where they go from here, doesn’t know what it means, “It’s alright Sean,” he says, “We can spend the day here, I’ll draw the curtains and you can rest without worry.” he gives Sean’s arm a gentle squeeze, “We can figure this out later, we have time.” 

He can see the pain, fresh and blinding in Sean’s gaze, the exhaustion, this hurt was old, and perhaps he’d never truly dealt with it, Jonathan understood that, perhaps in time, they could, but for now he’d draw the blinds and wait until the following night.


End file.
